UQAM claims student protests cost it $20 million

Michelle Lalonde and Kevin Dougherty, The Gazette10.30.2012

Police have a strong presence at the Berri-UQAM metro at the start of the nightly Students demonstration against proposed tuition fee hikes by the Quebec government, for the 9th straight night in the streets of Montreal, Quebec Wednesday, May 2, 2012.Peter McCabe / THE GAZETTE

But in Quebec City Wednesday, Pierre Duchesne, the minister of higher education, suggested the total cost for the months of unrest for all post-secondary institutions is $40 million and still mounting.

Corbo said the Quebec government must compensate the university, which was already financially troubled due to the Îlot Voyageur debacle and other problems, for this loss if it is to meet its goal of balancing its budget by 2016.

Corbo made the comments in Montreal in an interview conducted by television news anchor Bernard Derome before a packed room at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, at a luncheon organized by the Montreal Board of Trade.

Gerry Sklavounos, higher education critic for the Quebec Liberal Party, said Duchesne, a former Radio-Canada a television reporter, is no longer a journalist.

“He has to answer questions,” Sklavounos told reporters.

“I don’t know where he came up with the figure,” he added, taking the position that the Liberals, who were the government then and are the opposition now, bear no responsibility for the tuition dispute.

“What’s clear is he is part of a party that wore the red square and played pots and pans in the street and today he seems to be wanting to blame us, who are in the opposition, for the fact that there were some costs incurred for the universities.

“He has to stop asking questions. He has to realize he is no longer in opposition,” he added.

“He’s the minister. He has to make decisions.”

Sklavounos said Duchesne has questioned the underfunding of Quebec’s universities and it is not clear he will compensate them for their losses.

“He seems to want the universities to go bankrupt,” he said. “I’m very, very surprised.”

Le Devoir reported Tuesday that it has obtained a copy of a letter written by Corbo to Duchesne, in which Corbo oulines the “brutal consequences” of the student strike on his university. He said the conflict has so far cost the university $20 million, and without immediate financial aid the university cannot possiby stick to the plan of a balanced budget by 2016.

“The risk of going over the deficit authorized for UQAM for 2012-2013 [in a] letter, dated Oct. 3 does not result from deficient management. I therefore ask that UQAM be protected and accorded, in all fairness, the same type of financial assistance that the cegeps hit by the student boycott are being accorded.

Duchene confirmed receipt of Corbo’s letter and said he has received similar missives from other universities.

The $20-million pricetag for UQAM takes into account losses in revenue, and supplementary costs, such as security:

* loss of overall revenue of $7 million for the summer 2012 trimester that did not take place (with the exception of the Ecole des sciences de la gestion),* loss of $1.5 million in revenue related to lower frequency of auxiliary services (food providers, reprographie, parking),* $1.5 million in increased expenses for certain services, such as Student Services and Building Services (mainly security related), and* the catch-up session was also expensive; $750,000 for professors.